Refund and rebooking policy- terrifying!

[Paul1255]

Yikes, anyone else broken out into a cold sweat reading the details of the new refund and rebooking policy….

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2868/rebooking-and-refund-policy?src_section=310825&c=.pi80.pk...

[Sammy-L-0]

@Peter3362 I really take offense at your comment, "from Kentucky duhhhhh."  By stereotyping people from Kentucky, you only reinforce the stereotype of New Yorkers as rude and overbearing. Perhaps you should just refuse to rent to those you don't consider to be the "right kind of people."

[Helen744]

@Sammy-L-0  love you Sammy. It may reassure you to know that in Australia we do not understand what he even meant or why and we do not think ,as many people seem to that New York is the centre of the known universe. All I can say is people should get out more. H

[Sammy-L-0]

Indeed. Some people live in their own little bubble.

[Gillian166]

@Sammy-L-0 

I knew what he meant (I quite enjoy "it's a southern thing" youtube channel) and I believe the correct response to @Peter3362  is "well, bless your heart"

The same stuff goes on in Australia too, although it's not as overt. 

[Michelle53]

@Paul1255   There's a note at the top of the policy as follows :-

"This Policy is being updated. The new Policy appears at the top of this page and will apply to all bookings made on or after April 29, 2022. The existing Policy appears at the bottom of the page and applies to earlier bookings."

I think what I am going to do here is very carefully vet anyone who tries to book after April 29th.  If I start getting complaint messages from Airbnb about declines, I'm running out my calendar anyway.    I won't be taking any bookings from guests who don't have perfect reviews. 

[Davidx20]

Why would you accept a client that has a bad review? That doesn’t make sense at all. If they are not 5 star then they are not allowed to stay at my 5 star reviewed Mexico beach house.

[Helen744]

@David x20 Remember covid ? It may not affect where you are but many people who do not live in a hugely desirable area with  a choice of guests have lost guests and money . So they need to make judgement calls and really work on reviews and  the travel plans of changing guest expectations and  plus scammers . If you  followed these threads you would already know that five stars is only a beginning and not protection. H

[Michelle53]

@Davidx20   I have often given folks with less than perfect reviews or no reviews the benefit of the doubt, if we've had  a good conversation first, and they respond to my questions.   I've had great first-timers, for the most part.  A couple not so much. 

[Donna1157]

All hosts need to turn off Instant Booking. Vetting, having a required Legal Agreement signed are a must.

[Sherry415]

You have a legal agreement you send guests prior to booking?

[Robert5946]

I understand a lot of us are not happy with the new process, but I also am willing to bet there are a lot of so called host who have purchased properties just to make money  (we had a surge of buyers here in Vermont) and are no where near the properties. So who knows what situations are guest running into. Are the Host posting professional photos and then guest showing up to find Dirty or less than perfect homes? And possibly only some of the amenities? 

For those of us that operate as professionals It sure seems unfair especially when you've worked to get to be a super host.  I think there needs to be some kind of  review policy with the Host before any actions are taken!

[Mark116]

@Robert5946  The truth is, that if a property is poorly run, it will get bad reviews, if Airbnb's algo cared about reviews [which it doesn't, as the last time I looked there were at least a dozen places with ratings below 4.7 on the first 4 pages, well above my property placement with a rating of 4.9 and years as a superhost], that would weed out bad hosts.

However, the reason that someone has an Airbnb is irrelevent to whether they should have to pay out of their pocket money to 'rehouse' someone and for whatever other associated costs Airbnb deems to be fair.

[Helen744]

@Robert5946 seriously  I think a lot of people when they lose Superhost through one bad or malicious review then cannot get it back easily because it is not a fair system. You start chasing your tail and adding costs without results . Good for you keeping your five stars  . By the way 4.7 is  on a listing is a three monthly number and Superhost is calculated over 12 months once every three months . One bad review in three months can take someone down to 4.7 but because of all their other good reviews they do not lose Superhost. This is at least vaguely fair but make no mistake ,you too are only one vicious or simply silly guest away as we all are and will be until the system changes. People get what they pay for and all houses or places to stay are different and it is up to the guest to choose. H

[Paul1255]

For sure @Robert5946  there are hosts that are not taking the care they should be with their listings- and guests fall foul of them and need to be supported in such cases. No argument from me on that.

My concern, and the concerns of many others here is that the system is so easily open to abuse by guests in the know- and that we could well fall foul of a guest who makes a complaint about a listing that isn't dirty or less than perfect, with the purpose of playing the system.

Airbnb's policy of shoot the host first ask questions later (or don't ask questions at all) leaves all reputable (super) hosts as fair game, unless, as you say there is a review policy with the host before action is taken.

[Helen744]

@Helen 744 Just got super host back. Although I cant see it yet Now for a little lie down H and J